NEW YORK - Mike Piazza is staying put, and it took the richest deal in baseball history to keep him with the New York Mets.

The All-Star catcher agreed to a $91 million, seven-year contract, which was announced Monday at Shea Stadium. Piazza's deal, which averages $13 million a season, tops the $75 million, six-year contract pitcher Pedro Martinez agreed to with Boston last December.

Piazza, 30, could have become a free agent but opted instead to stay with the Mets, who competed for the NL wild-card berth until the final weekend of the season.

"The Mets showed incredible commitment to me," Piazza said. "If I'm so fortunate as to go into the Hall of Fame someday it definitely will be in a Mets uniform."

He hit .329 this year with 32 home runs and 111 RBIs, getting $8 million in the final season of a $15 million, two-year deal. After the Dodgers failed to sign him to a multiyear deal last spring, he was traded from Los Angeles to Florida in May. The Marlins traded him to the Mets a week later.

The deal is a clear signal the Mets will attempt to trade catcher Todd Hundley, who is to be paid $5.2 million next season and $6 million in 2000 as part of a $21 million, four-year contract.

The Mets also are said to be close to signing ace left-hander Al Leiter to a four-year contract worth $32 million. The signing is reportedly imminent, with an announcement was expected this week.

Leiter, 17-6 with a 2.47 ERA, said from his home in Florida that he and the Mets were close to an agreement.

Though he did not point to any specific players, Mets GM Steve Phillips said it was possible that the Mets would pursue another major free agent. He said there would be room for such an addition within the club's projected 1999 payroll, which he said would be "in the 60s," meaning millions of dollars. The Mets' payroll was approximately $50 million last season.

Phillips said the Mets would "certainly at least will be inquiring as far as some of the guys who might fit our needs" and defined those needs as either a second baseman or a third baseman - whichever position Edgardo Alfonzo does not play - plus filling "two holes in the outfield" in left and right. He also said the club was still considering "whether to add another pitcher."

Giants keep Snow&lt;

The Giants announced Monday that they had picked up the $3 million 1999 option on J.T. Snow. Snow had surgery on his shoulder last week and the team was waiting to learn the results of the surgery before renewing the contract for next season.

Snow hit .248 with 15 home runs and 79 RBI in 1998. He also won his fourth straight Gold Glove Award, committing just one error the entire season.

Known as "El Duque," Hernandez sat in the front-row pew at St. Patrick's Cathedral with his mother, his two daughters and his ex-wife, the mother of his children, as O'Connor celebrated a Mass.

The pitcher and his family were applauded when introduced to parishioners prior to Sunday's Mass. Hernandez smiled as O'Connor delivered a portion of his homily in Spanish.

"We are grateful to President Castro," O'Connor said.

"He also has stated explicitly that the family is free to return to Cuba."

The cardinal had been instrumental in bringing the family to the United States. Besides Castro, O'Connor also thanked Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

"We are grateful to all of those who were involved," he said.

The 29-year-old pitcher had pleaded with O'Connor late in the baseball season to help bring his family to America. The cardinal forwarded the request to Castro, whom he met while accompanying the pope to Cuba in January.

Yokohama wins title&lt;

TOKYO - It took a generation but finally they did it - the Yokohama Bay Stars, Japanese baseball's perennial no-hopers, Monday made it back to the top.

The team clinched the Japan Series title - Japan's equivalent of the World Series - with a 2-1 cliffhanger victory over the Seibu Lions.

The Bay Stars took the series four games to two. They have won the Series only once before, in 1960 when the team was known as the "Taiyo Whales."

After that, the team were so hapless for so long that even hometown fans commonly called them "the sinking Whales." &lt;